HINDU GODS

August 07, 2009

God of kuladevata

Kuldevatas mainFor purposes of worship the Hindu has three principal deities.

The first is the Gramadevata (the god of the village or town),

The second the Kuladevata (deity of his family or Gotra), and

The third the Ishtadevata (personal deity). Of these the first two are fixed for him at birth and the third he selects for himself from the many deities of the Hindu pantheon. Worship of the Kuladevata is generally performed daily in the family home shrine dedicated to this deity.belong to the Siva or Shakti cult.Many villages of Tamil Nadu in South India people are celebrating this Great God, KaruppaswamyMuneeswaran , kaaval deiyvangal! All along the highways in Tamil Nadu we can see huge Iyyanar statues riding on the horse, standing at the entrance to the villages keeping guard as believed by the naive, innocent,pious rural peopleas their life long Guardian God. Usually the idols of this Great God is situated at the entrance of every Hindu temple as security of other Gods present in the temples. In legend it is told that Karuppaswamy is the other image of Lord Shiva and He is given the same importance as given to Lord Shiva. Many hundreds of Boothas are coming under the administration of Lord Karuppaswamy and Boothas are also adorned by His devotees. In every Karuppaswamy temple where Karuppaswamy is the prime God the gaint Bootha Statues are standing on both sides of the temple. Lord Karuppaswamy has different images such as Muthu Karuppana Swamy, Punugu Karuppana Swamy and Sangili Karuppana Swamy,Sonai Karuppanasamy.Karuppusamy stands as a guard for the pathinettam padi.Sabarimalai,There are different forms of karuppusamy, like Sangilli KaruppanLord Karuppaswamy is considered to be the guardian God of the village where His temple is situated. According to common belief not only do this Great God scare away evil spirits and protect villagers against evil diseases and ill fortunes but also punishing erring persons. Gods other than Karuppaswamy are Lord Ayyanar and Lord Madurai Veeran. The statues of these dieties are found at the boundaries of villages. It is common to find the statue of Lord Karuppaswamy riding on horse. It is also believed that Guardian Gods like Lord Karuppaswamy ride around villages on horse to protect people and His devotees. He has His peculiar image by having big crown made of cloth, big moustache and bright eyes. He is always equipped with spear and machete to protect His devotees from evil things.

On the day of Maha Shivarathri, a major Hindu festival, the various groups of Hindu people are celebrating and praying their own prime Gods including Lord Karuppaswamy. This festival comes on every new moon day of February last week or March first week of every year.